Ngassa

[h=1]Mrisho Ngassa the only trialist to play vs. Manchester United[/h]Posted by Joshua Mayers
There were a handful of new faces at Sounders FC training today, including Federal Way native Kelyn Rowe, who plays collegiately at UCLA.
With Wednesday's friendly looming, I asked coach Sigi Schmid if any non-contract players might get some action against Manchester United.
"The only trialist that we're looking at playing is (Mrisho) Ngassa," he said. "We haven't had a chance to see him yet on a real big field because just of our training schedule and the amount of games that we've had. We haven't done a lot of big-field stuff in between, so it will be good to see him on a big field."
Ngassa is a 22-year-old speedy wing player from Tanzania. He was brought to the Sounders in an effort to strengthen the team's relationship with clubs in East Africa.
"It's a loose affiliation at this point, although we are trying to put something more structured in place," said general manager Adrian Hanauer last week. "It's a relationship that has evolved over the last five years or so. We believe that there is some opportunity in East Africa. We would like to create a link, a pipeline. We are planning to do so with a team called African Lyon in Dar es Salaam. Ngassa happens to come from a different team called Azam, which were willing to work with African Lyon and ourselves in bringing him out for a trial. We are excited about the relationship. We've got work to do to make it more robust, but it's something we think could pay dividends down the line -- two years, three years, five years, 10 years."

Manchester United beat New England last week and faces Chicago in a few days.It'll the interesting to see how many of the stars see the field and how long.I can't Imagine any of big names (Wayney Rooney,Rio Ferdinand et) will get more than 45 minutes.

Same goes for the Sounders,Which We expect to field close to starting lineup at the kickoff.The reserves and TANZANIAN trialist MRISHO NGASA..will likely cycle through the second half.

[h=1]Sounders FC vs. Manchester United, pregame and lineups[/h]Posted by Joshua MayersThe hype around this one has been building for a week. It's just about time to get this friendly going and, yes, that is a grass surface in case you forgot.
Manchester United beat New England 4-1 last week and faces Chicago in a few days. It'll be interesting to see how many of the stars see the field and for how long. I can't imagine any of the big names (Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, etc.) will get more than 45 minutes.
Same goes for the Sounders, which I expect to field close to starting lineup at kickoff. The reserves -- and Tanzanian trialist Mrisho Ngassa -- will likely cycle through in the second half. There aren't many stats to mention in the buildup. United is 1-1 in games here (including a 3-0 loss to the NASL Sounders in 1982 and a 4-0 exhibition win against Celtic in 2003). I'll post the lineups here when they become available.Sounders FC starting lineup: GK Kasey Keller, D James Riley, D Jeff Parke, D Patrick Ianni, D Leo Gonzalez, M Osvaldo Alonso, M Erik Friberg, M Alvaro Fernandez, M Mauro Rosales, F Fredy Montero, F Roger LevesqueSounders FC bench: GK Terry Boss, GK Josh Ford, M Servando Carrasco, M David Estrada, M Brad Evans, F Mike Fucito, D Taylor Graham, D Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, F Nate Jaqua, M Miguel Montano, M Lamar Neagle, F/M Pat Noonan, D Zach Scott, M Mike Seamon, D Michael Tetteh, F O'Brian White, M Mrisho Ngassa